Todoroki Raichi
Todoroki Raichi is a first year high school student of Yakushi High School. He is the third baseman of the Yakushi High School baseball team, and a hard slugger. He also takes up an alternate position as a pitcher later. Appearance Raichi has dark, spiky hair and a メ-shaped scar on his left cheek. He usually has very small irises, but when he is particularly impassioned, he is drawn without irises. Character Todoroki Raichi behaves much like an exaggerated version of Sawamura, who is often compared to him. He acts wildly during games, often loudly declaring that he will send his opponent's pitches flying, despite being surprisingly quiet in class. During matches he constantly lets out his signature "KAHAHAHAHA!!" laugh. He seems to use this laugh indiscriminately, as he is shown laughing after both successes and failures, and even when nervous. When he performs a successful play- be it catching a ball to get someone out, throwing the ball to someone at a base, or sending an opponent's pitches flying- Raichi is shown to have a massive grin with an often somewhat frightening look on his face. Despite his loudness and wild expressions, Raichi has respect for all of his teammates. Raichi is also not quite as confident as he seems; he gets flustered in certain situations such as when he makes a mistake during a game. He can come across as scatterbrained since he forgets to bring his hat or glove with him on the field a few times. A notable trait that Raichi shares with fellow first year Sawamura Eijun is the annoying habit to give advice to his senpai despite being known for making mistakes. Ironically, Eijun even points out that Raichi is disrespectful. Recently he had begun pitching for his team, throwing surprisingly fast pitches, but with erratic control. In such instances where he nearly injures a batter, he will comically run up to the batter, remove his hat and show a small amount of concern. Though Raichi says there is no one in particular he 'respects,' he has been shown to admire Yuki Tetsuya from Seidou, who is on-par and even better than him when it comes to batting.Chapter 111 History When Raichi was little, his father gave him a heavy wooden bat with the words "Money Tree" engraved on it for Raichi to use when he practice his swings. Raizou tells him of a 160km/h pitch speed and compares it with a bullet train. Raichi eventually develops "image training" and with the wooden bat, imagines to duel against monster pitchers having a 160km/h fastball and various breaking balls. Plot West Tokyo Tournament Preliminaries In Yakushi's matchup with Ichidaisan at the West Tokyo Tournament,Anime episode 31, Manga chapter 90 he hits a homerun off Manaka Kaname surprising Ichidaisan and Seidou. Manaka is sent to the outfield after the homerun affected his rhythm. The pitcher later recovers his form and Raichi face him off for the second time. He hits Manaka's breaking ball but the ball goes straight to Manaka who falls to the ground. Despite this, Manaka picks up the ball and outs Raichi. Manaka is pulled out due to injury and despite Ichidaisan's efforts, Yakushi wins after a fierce batting game. After that match he practice his swings outside the stadium and is supervised by his father and coach, Todoroki Raizou. Raizou tells Raichi that the only pitcher left in West Tokyo that's worth Raichi's time is Inashiro's Narumiya Mei. Unknown to both of them, Seidou's freshmen trio hears the remark infuriating Sawamura and Furuya.Anime episode 32, Manga chapter 93 Quarter-finals At the quarter-final, Raichi is moved from the 4th batter to the lead-off batter. At the line-up, the Seidou players all glare at Raichi. Sanada Shunpei points this out and Mishima asks Raichi what he did. Raichi however, can only laugh. At match time, he gets to duel Furuya first and becomes excited after the first and second pitches. He hits the third pitch hard to the fence and gets on to second base. At Yakushi's second batting cycle, Sawamura replaces Furuya. After a couple of throws, Raichi thinks Sawamura's got potential and has a great weapon. He eventually hits but the ball is caught by Sawamura. He faces Sawamura again at Yakushi's third cycle and this time, hits a homerun. This affects Sawamura's rhythm and is eventually switched with Kawakami. Kawakami too however, is affected by the homerun and Miyuki decides to walk Raichi. Tanba later is switched with Kawakami and in a mend-or-break situation, Raichi stumbles down to the pressure of scoring for his team. He gets struck out and Yakushi loses the match. Raichi breaks down in tears but is later on told by his senpai's they don't blame him and that they'll be waiting for the day everyone knows his name. Aftermath He is seen with Raizou to be watching on TV the Koshien final matchup of Inashiro and Komadai Fujimaki. During their off season Yakushi have a scrimmage against Seidou High.Anime episode 67 When the Yakushi players arrive at Seidou, they see Furuya and Sawamura stretching on one of the fields. Raichi jumps over the fence and declares that he'll smash both pitchers away. At game time, he fights Furuya with fouls before popping a flier to the centerfield. The crowd cheers Furuya while Raichi gets frustrated being overpowered by Furuya's fastball. He hits a homerun off Sawamura once again noting that he thought Sawamura would be attacking the inside more but the pitcher didn't. With Kawakami unable to hold Yakushi's batters down, Yakushi wins the game. Fall Tournament Yakushi makes it to the Final round and battles it out with Seidou. Relationships with other characters Todoroki Raizou Raichi is the son of Todoroki Raizou, the coach of Yakushi's baseball team. Raizou makes fun of his son during games but also appears to be very proud of him. Sanada Shunpei Raichi has respect for Sanada like he has for all of his teammates. Raichi calls him "Sanada-senpai" and often calls out (unnecessary) words of encouragement during games. Mishima & Akiba Raichi's best friends are Akiba and Mishima. Raichi's father taught the three of them baseball when they were young; the lessons were held under a bridge. Raichi has a habit of saying Mishima's name incorrectly, much to Mishima's annoyance, and calls Akiba "Akki." Skills Batting: Raichi is a hard slugger who is capable of crushing a pitcher's spirit with his powerful hits. Player Statistic Defense: 2 (out of 5). Shoulder - 5 Running: 3 (out of 5) Physical Strength: 5 (out of 5) Mental Strength: 3 (out of 5) Batting: 5 (out of 5). Contact - 5, Power - 5 Trivia *Favorite Food : Banana, Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) *Best Subjects : Health and Physical Education *His hobbies include practicing his swing and eating bananas. *His characteristic laugh is "KAHAHAHA." *Terajima Yūji published a story about Raichi back in 2003, before Diamond no Ace began. The story (or at least part of it), titled "The Bat-man Under the Bridge" (橋の下のバットマン) can be read here . Quotes *"More...I want to hit more...and more..." Raichi in chapter 93. *"Pitchers are awesome. Baseball is deep."Raichi in chapter 388. Gallery Todoroki Raichi.png|Todoroki Raichi Eijun.raichi.png|Raichi vs Eijun Raichi at bat.png|Raichi at bat Raichi practice.png|Raichi during practice References Navigation Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Yakushi High School Category:1st Year High School Category:Third Baseman Category:Players